April C9, IS71.] 
THE P H ARM ACE E TIC AL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
869 
SATURDAY, APRIL 29, 1S71. 
Communications for this Journal, and boohs for review,etc., 
should be addressed to the Editor, 17, Bloomsbury Square. 
Instructions from Members ancl Associates respecting the 
transmission of the Journal should be sent to Elias Brem- 
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Advertisements to Messrs. Churchill, New Burlington 
Street, London, IV. Envelopes indorsed “ Bharm. Journ." 
PHARMACY IN AUSTRIA. 
Among tlie many political and social questions 
which are discussed in Austria just now, the rela¬ 
tion of the pharmacist to the State is not forgotten. 
There, as in Germany, the pharmaceutical business 
is strictly under Government control; the number 
of pharmacies is limited, etc. 
Some members of the profession at \ ienna for 
it is a profession there and not a trade—have 
lately petitioned their parliament, the Beichsratli, in 
favour of free trade, and they are strongly opposed 
by the Austrian United Society of Apothecaries, 
consisting of more than 500 members from different 
parts of the empire. They contradict point after 
point the arguments adduced by the free-traders in 
a long document, likewise addressed to the parlia¬ 
ment. 
As to the state of pharmacy generally, they say 
the Pharmacopoeia is the. Codex, prescribing what 
articles are to be kept, and of what quality. Profes¬ 
sional inspectors ascertain by personal visits every 
year the efficiency of the pharmaceutical establish¬ 
ments, and their annual reports are most favourable. 
In order to prove that the limitation of the busi¬ 
ness to a certain number is most conducive to the 
true interests of the public, they point to those coun¬ 
tries in which free trade in pharmacy does exist. 
It is stated as a matter of fact, that in all large 
towns in tins country a few only of the many pharma¬ 
cies enjoy public confidence. In London, it is asserted 
not more than 20 out of 3000 pharmacists’ shops 
command undoubted confidence; but these 20 esta¬ 
blishments are of such an extent as to employ 30 
assistants each. The natural consequence is, that 
prescriptions are often sent many miles to the dis¬ 
tant shop ; and of what use, it is asked, are the un¬ 
deserving 300 or 400 places on the way ? 
In regard to France, M. Dorvault, Director of the 
Pliarmacie Centrale at Paris, is quoted, who said, 
“If the pharmacists are allowed to multiply without 
limitation, and to enter into competition as keen and 
bitter as in any other trade, a lamentable falling off in 
these establishments must be the consequence, and 
many pharmacists will be forced to adopt means 
they themselves despise to gain a decent living. 
Next, the fixed charges in dispensing, regulated 
by the State, are discussed, and the question is ven¬ 
tilated which system is most advantageous to the 
public. It appears the principle followed in the 
scale of prices is as follows :—Drugs, if sold in com¬ 
paratively large quantities, are charged the whole¬ 
sale price, with an addition of 25 per cent., and in 
small quantities with an addition of 50 per cent. 
Another charge is made for work, bottles, etc., so 
that the price of a medicine includes four or five 
items. 
To compare the charges in Austria with those 
made in England and France, the prices as agreed 
upon by the Manchester pharmacists, and copied in 
full from this Journal of 17th December last, are 
given, and also a copy of a tariff from M. Dorvault’s 
work, ‘ L’Officine.’ The result of this comparison is, 
that the prices are in the proportion of Austria 1, 
France 2, England 3, or the French charges for me¬ 
dicines are twice as high, the English three times as 
high as the Austrian. 
The explanation for this great difference the peti¬ 
tioners find in the fact that, after all, the dispensing 
business is fixed within certain limits, and that the 
number of pharmacies in France and England so 
vastly exceeds the real demand, that each can get 
only a small share, and tries to make up by higher 
prices. But even these high prices are not sufficient 
to ensure the, existence of so many participators, 
and they are driven to sell all sorts of patent and 
proprietary articles. On this subject the Austrians 
wax very warm indeed. They quote words of the 
celebrated Professor Boudet, spoken at the Pharma¬ 
ceutical Congress at Paris in 1867 “ You liigli 
and mighty patrons of specialism, do not barricade 
yourselves behind sophisms, which mislead nobody. 
You have made slaves of your colleagues ; you have 
degraded them to retailers of your patent medicines, 
you have deprived them of their self-confidence and 
of their professional honour; you have sacrificed 
the good-fellowship of your brethren to your egotis¬ 
tical designs, and you speculate only on the weak¬ 
ness and ignorance of the sick, on the sufteimg of 
life, and every one becomes without compassion a 
victim of your guile. Oh ! if your principles were 
realized; if in the civilized world pharmacy were 
handed over to freedom as you demand, w hat a 
flood of specialities ! what international rivalry of 
miraculous remedies would rush down upon us! 
how the diploma of pharmacy would be degraded! 
Yes, I do not shrink from saying so; and if that 
diploma might be had lor the trouble of picking it 
up, where is the man of honour to be found who 
would stoop to drag it out of the mire into which it 
has fallen? And as to the millions you realize by 
your specialities, keep them for yourselves , I value 
the honour of my country higher !” 
The gist of the petition is embodied in three 
points, viz.:— 
